How to Prepare Your CoffeeCaffè alla Valdostana
What you need
Ingredients run from the top of the cup to the bottom; the last item is the bottom layer. Values are normalized to a true 100% stack.
- Grind
- Medium — filter grind
- Water temperature
- Hot — coffee brought up to the boil, then flambéed
- Total time
- 10 min
Caffè alla valdostana is the Aosta Valley's shared winter coffee: hot coffee, grappa, sugar and strips of lemon and orange peel, set alight in a lidded wooden cup and passed from mouth to mouth among friends. The cup is the coppa dell'amicizia, the friendship cup, turned on a lathe with several spouts around its rim, one for each drinker. The region's own tourism board gives the plainest version — two parts coffee to one part local grappa, a sugared rim that caramelises in the flame, and the lid dropped on to put the fire out. Then the cup goes round counterclockwise and never touches the table until it is empty. Households and bars build their own mixes on that base, adding genepì, the valley's wormwood liqueur, or orange liqueur, cinnamon and cloves.
Steps
Brew a long filter coffee and bring it to the boil
The tourism board's recipe asks for coffee made by infusion rather than by an espresso machine, and served very hot. The heat matters: hot coffee warms the grappa enough for it to light, and a lukewarm base lets the flame die before the rim sugar can colour.
Pour the coffee into the friendship cup with the sugar and citrus peel
The sugar dissolves straight into the hot coffee, and the strips of lemon and orange peel steep in it for the next few minutes, so their oils are already in the liquid when the flame passes over them.
Sugar the rim, wet it with grappa, and pour in the rest of the grappa
Sugar pressed around the rim and moistened with spirit gives the flame something to catch on at the edge, where the drinkers' lips will go. The rest of the grappa goes into the coffee and gives the surface enough alcohol to burn.
Light it and stir until the rim sugar starts to caramelise
Stirring keeps fresh spirit at the surface so the flame burns steadily instead of flickering out. The caramelised sugar is the sign it is ready: it gives the rim a toffee edge, and some of the raw alcohol has burned off.
Put the lid on to smother the flame, then pass the cup round
The lid starves the fire of air without letting the drink cool. Each person drinks from their own spout in turn, passing the cup counterclockwise, hand to hand, until it is empty.
Cup ready
Time to enjoy your Caffè alla Valdostana
Brewed the way they do it in Italy. What next?
Tips
- Never set the cup down on the table once it is in play — every source on the friendship cup names this rule: it passes from hand to hand until it is empty.
- Keep to filter coffee if you can — the regional recipe asks for it, and a long brew gives a full cup to share, where a few espressos leave little to pass round.
- Warm the filled cup gently, in a water bath as some recipes do, if the coffee has cooled — warm spirit lights at once, while cold spirit sputters.
- Keep the lid within reach before you strike the match — the wooden cup and a bowl of burning spirit both call for a brief, controlled flame.
Common mistakes
- Letting the flame run on after the rim sugar has coloured — the sugar scorches, and the longer it burns the more alcohol and peel aroma it takes with it.
- Pouring it out into individual cups — the drink is defined by the shared cup and its spouts; poured into separate cups it is just sweetened coffee with grappa.
FAQ
Is it called a grolla or a coppa dell'amicizia?
Both names are used, and many recipes call the coffee cup a grolla. Valley craftspeople and some coffee writers keep them apart. The grolla is the taller wooden cup for wine. The coppa dell'amicizia is the lower, rounder lidded cup with several spouts, and that is the one coffee goes into.
Which spirits go into caffè alla valdostana?
Grappa is the constant. The Aosta Valley tourism board's recipe uses grappa alone, with sugar and lemon and orange peel. Other published versions add genepì, the alpine wormwood liqueur, and orange liqueur or cognac, and some add cinnamon and cloves. These are house variations on the same drink rather than a different one, and each household defends its own.
How much alcohol is in it?
Quite a lot. The regional recipe uses one measure of grappa for every two of coffee, and the flame burns off only part of it. Versions with genepì and other liqueurs add more. The drink is shared after a meal, a few sips per person each time the cup comes round.
The Atlas
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